A Kiss is a Lovely Trick
by Winterowl312
Summary: "A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop speech when words become superfluous."  Kissing, cross-dressing, food fights, and quite a few confessions of love: you'll find it all here.  Leviathan drabbles, updated sporadically.
1. If You're Reading This

**Pause. Please don't kill me. Alek Meets the Sharps **_**will **_**be finished. The next chapter's started, but won't be uploaded for another week or so. I just needed to take a break from it and actually formulate some ideas. Because you'd rather have a good fic that takes a little bit than a rushed one that is absolute rubbish, right?**

**Anyway, this is probably some really bad writing. I wouldn't know, since I don't let anyone read it before I upload it. (That needs to change: anyone want to beta?) I am obviously not Scott Westerfeld, either, or this would be much better.**

_So lay me down  
>In that open field out on the edge of town<br>And know my soul  
>Is where my momma always prayed<br>That it would go  
>And if you're reading this<br>I'm already home_

_Dear Ma,_

_ I suppose, if you've gotten this letter, you've heard by now. The Leviathan didn't make it out of the war. Most likely, I didn't either, or you wouldn't have gotten this barking note in the first place._

_ I just wanted to tell you…I love you. And tell Jaspert and Auntie Clarence and Auntie Margaret I love them too, even though it sometimes didn't seem like it. And please don't be too ashamed of me, or yourself, and how I turned out. You couldn't possibly have known how barking mad I would grow up to be._

_ I wasn't a complete failure, at least. I met a boy. His name is Alek, and I think, I think, I love him. And he loves me back. He's kind, and sweet, even though he's barking terrible with the beasties. He can read Latin, and speak Greek, and he may be a little short, and sometimes a complete _Dummkopf, _but to me, he's perfect. _

_ Kind of funny, how things turned out. I run off to escape being a girl, and end up falling in love here. Guess that's the providence Alek was always blethering about._

_ I also wanted to tell you, I don't think Da wants you to be so sad all the time. He wouldn't want you to live the rest of your life moping that he couldn't be with you for the rest of it. I miss him too. But, even though we can't see him, I bet he's there with you right now, reading this. He'll always be there._

_ Look at me. All of this has turned me into a barking poet. But don't worry about me. I'm in a better place, and I love you all._

_ Love and Barking Spiders,_

_ Your daughter Deryn_

Tears fell on the paper, smudging the ink, but Mrs. Sharp couldn't help it. She had lost a husband and both of her children because of their love of flying. Not for the first time, she wished for Artemis back, for Jaspert and Deryn alive, just so she could tell them one more time how much she really did love them.

Mrs. Sharp ran a thumb over the paper, trying to wipe away the tears, but only succeeding in marring the letter even more. Finally, she gave up. And read the letter again.

Despite her tears, she smiled to herself. Deryn still couldn't write a letter to save her life. She was glad that her daughter had found love, even if he was a Clanker. And if she was really, truly happy in the air, Virginia Sharp was glad Deryn had followed her dreams, fearless and not bothering with the consequences.

"Just like her father," Virginia said softly.

Yes, Deryn and Jaspert Sharp were just like their father. Always longing to fly, and never giving up until they had what they wanted. Never, ever taking no for an answer.

That was what she loved about them, after all.

**So sorry about this. Wanted to upload something before I go to overnight camp for school for a week, and I only had one night, so this was the result. If by any chance, there was something about it you did like, review. (Also, yes, I killed both Alek and Deryn, and Jaspert, too. They're all dead. But they're in heaven, if it makes you feel better…)**


	2. Song Drabbles

**Warning: Extremely pitiful drabbles ahead. This is not the iPod Shuffle Challenge. These are just terribly written drabbles **_**based **_**off of songs. I take extra time and skip songs when writing them.**

** Please review, if you can find anything about them that isn't **_**total**_** garbage. **

**Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift**

They called it the Great War. It had started with the death of his parents, and then all the unnamed men who had died fighting in it. Tesla. And Jaspert. Jaspert Sharp, whom Alek had never met, would never have the chance to meet, was dead.

They had gotten the letter from her Ma that morning. The _Minotaur_ had been shot down by a Clanker dreadnought, like the one that had injured the _Leviathan_. Except, this time, the Darwinists and their airship hadn't survived.

More sobs racked Deryn's body. "Shh…" Alek told her softly. "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay..."

But he knew it wasn't. And, for the rest of their lives, it never would be. The Great War had left scars on them all.

**Crash Here Tonight by Toby Keith**

Deryn couldn't believe she'd said just that. But it just slipped out, three words she'd never thought she'd tell him.

"I love you."

She clapped a hand over her mouth. _ Ninny, he doesn't feel that way about you. He never will. Accept it._

Alek stood stock still for a moment. He opened his mouth and Deryn squeezed her eyes shut. Oh no. He was going to say it. That he didn't feel the same way about her. That she was a fool for loving him. That it didn't matter, because he'd have to run a mile, like he'd said in Istanbul.

But that wasn't it at all.

"I love you, too."

**Rue's Lullaby by District Tribute**

Another nightmare. She'd had another one. But it wasn't the same as last time, the one she'd always had, with her father dying. This one had been about Alek. Alek's death.

Deryn took a deep breath and opened her bleary eyes. He was still there. It was okay. Alek was alive. It had just been a dream. A barking scary dream, to be sure. But just a dream.

Even though he couldn't hear her, she whispered, "I love you."

Then she closed her eyes and slid back into sleep. Her dreams were peaceful for the rest of the night.

**Halo by Beyonce**

"_Engel_."

Deryn barked a laugh. "You're barking kidding me. That is _not_ a nickname for a former midshipman on the _Leviathan."_

_ "_What about a nickname for Deryn Sharp, the love of my life?"

Deryn pretended to consider it. "Aye, that would work," she agreed.

Alek nodded, satisfied.

"As long as you don't use it in public."

Now it was Alek's turn to laugh. "Of course not," he said.

**The Climb by Miley Cyrus **

It was all worth it.

Serving on the _Leviathan_, the tedious middy jobs, putting up with Dr. Barlow and that barking Count, and keeping her secret from Alek…it was all worth flying. Being out on the ratlines, feeling the wind ruffling her hair; flying was perfect. The one time Deryn Sharp got to be free, not stuffed in skirts or bound by lies. The one time she didn't feel like a bird with her wings clipped.

Flying was her life.

**I Loved Her First by Heartland**

Jaspert clenched his fists. The sight of that boy with his baby sister infuriated him. She was head over heels in love with him: that was for sure. And Aleksandar obviously loved her back. Loved her, and would do anything for her.

He still hated that barking former prince.

"You promise you'll protect her, guard her life with yours?"

"I promise."

He was being a bum-rag, he knew that. But Jaspert couldn't help it.

"And love her forever?"

"Of course."

"And –"

"Jaspert Sharp, I promise I will protect her. I love Deryn and I'd gladly give up my life to save her's. But this interrogation is ridiculous. What are we accomplishing here?"

Jaspert's mouth twitched into a smile. This kid had courage, and he seemed nice enough. He waved Aleksandar off, with a grudging promise that they had his blessing. He watched him leave. He certainly didn't look like a prince, and he didn't act like one. He was kind and thoughtful, and wasn't arrogant.

Not bad for a Clanker.

**White Horse by Taylor Swift**

It was time she got her head out of the clouds and started to live in reality. Her life wasn't a fairytale, it wouldn't have a happy ending. What was she thinking? Alek didn't know she loved him, didn't even know she was a girl.

But it was so easy, when she saw him, to imagine that he'd love her if she told him. But she knew he wouldn't. He'd most likely hate her, and even if he didn't, he'd have to run a mile. He'd said so himself.

_Deryn Sharp. Common as dirt._

There was no future in this fantasy. She had what she wanted – she was a barking midshipman on the _Leviathan. _It was all she'd ever hoped for. And she had a job, one that required full focus, one that couldn't be shoved to the side because of a silly crush.

No more.

No more princes. No more Alek. No more silly emotions like love. Midshipman Dylan Sharp didn't have time for that.

**Umm…yeah. I'll go hide in my little corner now. These were absolutely terrible. I don't know why I'm even bothering uploading these. But seriously, this was probably the worst thing I've written since first grade. The only way these could get worse was if I decided to torture you further and write more of these. ;)**


	3. Return to the Leviathan

**Prepare for a very confused Newkirk, an extremely irritable Deryn, and the reintroduction of a minor character. Also: not Scott.**

Deryn rubbed her hands together, trying to generate some warmth, and hopped nervously from foot to foot nervously. She really, _really _didn't want to do this. But, as Doctor Barlow's assistant, apparently it was required to accompany the boffin whenever she went on work trips. That was a stupid rule – what kind of person had time to think up all that clart?

The _Leviathan _loomed above her, Dr. Barlow, Bovril, and Alek, like a giant storm cloud. Under any other circumstances, she would have snatched up any chance to again serve on the airship. But, two years after her being a middy, with Deryn now seventeen, there were two big reasons that she wasn't looking forward to this trip.

She didn't get to serve on it – she was purely a guest.

This time, she'd be a girl.

"Calm down, Miss Sharp," the boffin scolds her. "This expedition is not the end of the world."

"That's easy for you to say," Deryn mumbled. "You're not the one everyone thinks is a barking boy."

If Nora Barlow heard that statement, she chose to ignore it. Tazza took the time to wind his leash around Deryn's legs – _Just like old times,_ Deryn thought sarcastically. She was definitely not enjoying what was supposed to be a "chance to reunite with old friends", according to the lady boffin.

Alek was not helping. "I wonder if Newkirk will still be here," he mused. "Do you think he's still a midshipman?"

"All I know is if that bum-rag Fitzroy came back and took my barking place when I left, this will not an enjoyable trip," Deryn answered, untangling herself from Tazza. She didn't even want to think about Newkirk. How would he react to her now longer hair –the boffin hadn't let her cut it when it grew out again?

Dr. Barlow shook her head at her assistants. A message lizard scurried down the ropes. "Dr. Barlow, we again welcome you to the _Leviathan_," it intoned in the captain's voice.

Though she did not approve of this trip and would have liked to strangle whoever came up with it, had it not been the lady boffin herself, Deryn allowed herself a small sigh of contentment. Soon, she would once again be flying.

The officers' reactions when they saw them: shocked, most of them. Other emotions ranged from happiness, boredom, and anger. Oh, yes, there were quite a few angry officers in the bridge, and all of that anger was directed straight at Deryn.

The captain spoke first. "We are honored to welcome back Doctor Nora Barlow, Aleksander of Hohenburg, and…Miss Sharp." There was a slight pause before he announced her name, which only added another reason for Deryn to feel guilty, worried, and defiant, all at the same time. The combination of emotions made her feel twitchy, not a feeling she liked.

"Mr. Newkirk, please show these two to their cabins. Doctor Barlow, may I have a word…"

Alek and Deryn followed Newkirk to their cabins. Newkirk kept throwing glances over his shoulder at Deryn, until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Would you stop it with those looks? Just barking _ask_ me already!"

"Um, well, uh…" was Newkirk's brilliant reply.

Bovril chuckled. "Mr. Deryn Sharp," it said from Alek's shoulder. Alek, as you may have noticed, decided to remain quiet for this little exchange, reasoning that, with Deryn involved, someone was probably going to get punched. And he didn't fancy it being him today.

Deryn had that murderous look in her eye that Alek knew well. "The fact that I'm a sodding girl doesn't change the fact that I was, and still am, a hundred percent a better middy than you," she snapped at Newkirk.

"I, um, –Just a question. What's your real name?"

"Deryn," she said suspiciously.

"Ahem," Bovril said, looking annoyed that its earlier statement had been ignored.

"And you've been a girl this entire time?" Now it was Newkirk's turn to look suspicious.

"What kind of question is that, _Dummkopf_? Of course I've been a girl this entire time!"

"You're sure?"

Alek suppressed a snicker. Bovril laughed in his ear.

Deryn's anger had turned to exasperation. "What's the point of this, ninny?"

"Well…" They had reached a door, which Deryn could only assume was one of their cabins. "Because, you have a cabin mate." He opened the door and Deryn gaped.

Guess who her cabin mate was?

Yup.

Midshipman Owen Fitzroy, at your service.

**This was **_**supposed**_** to be a serious chapter, but I had written enough fluff and whatnot this week and felt like I needed to write something like this. So here you go. Chapter 2, if you want one.**

**We don't learn Fitzroy's first name, so I made it Owen. I like the name Owen. Review please. My crazy self loves to hear your feedback!**


	4. Six Minutes

Six Minutes

_Deryn's POV_

Breakfast in the Zoological Society is just like breakfast on the _Leviathan. _Tasteless food, cramped quarters, and a "you-have-six-minutes-eat-fast" warning from Dr. Barlow. Really, it's kind of annoying.

So when you're presented with a chance, you have to take it, right?

…

Deryn was hiding behind her chair, armed with a bowl of oatmeal, when Alek stumbled into the small room the zoo used as a dining hall for their assistants. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his shirt was wrinkled. To put it frankly, he was a barking mess. _About to get a bit messier, too, _Deryn thought with a smirk.

Checking first to make sure no boffins or zoo keepers had snuck into the dining hall, she stood up, and in one fluid motion, launched a spoonful of oatmeal at Alek. It splattered onto his chest with a wet sound and stated to slide down onto his boots.

He looked around wildly; startled fully awake by what was supposed to be his breakfast hitting him in the chest. Deryn snickered at his expression.

When he saw who had thrown it, he didn't laugh. "_That_," he said through clenched teeth, "was my only clean shirt." And he marched up to the table, grabbed Deryn's glass of milk, and flung the contents in her face.

So began a food fight like London had never seen. Bits of toast, slashes of water, gobs of oatmeal all flew through the air like they had suddenly sprouted wings. Alek's shirt no longer even resembled the color white and they were both giggling. Sometime during the chaos one of them had fallen on the other and they now lie in a heap on the floor.

_Alek's POV_

Alek's breaths became short and clipped when he realized how close he was to Deryn. He must have tripped and fallen, though he didn't remember it, and landed on top of her. She was panting too, and Alek allowed himself a split second to think about what he was doing—turning crimson in the process—before he let his curiosity take over. Alek had only seen her up close like this a few times (one of them being when he had a concussion, and memories of that encounter were a bit jumbled) and he noticed things about Deryn Sharp he hadn't before. Like the little flecks of sapphire in her sky blue eyes and the tiny crumbs that had landed in her hair and the way she smiled like she knew what he was thinking and he knew right then that he was going to kiss her no matter who came by and caught a glimpse—they did have six minutes, after all and—

"_Ahem_."

But their six minutes were up apparently.

The two assistants lurched to their feet, their faces burning bright red. Dr. Barlow just raised an eyebrow.

"Um…" Alek stammered. "We were just…"

"We were…" Deryn tried. "We were _leaving_."

"Leaving," Alek confirmed, blushing yet again.

And they slipped past the boffin and out of the room, waiting until they reached the end of the hall to dissolve into laughter.

** The end. Anyway, I thought of this while eating my waffle earlier this week. Something about the combination of Dalek, food fights, and Dr. Barlow is just too good to pass up. Ah, poor Alek. **

** So, tell me what you think. Good reviews, bad, have any instructions on how to make this better, hit me with a review. Bye!**


	5. Poppies

Poppies. The red flowers were the most ridiculous thing for Deryn to be focused on during the battle.

Men fell left and right around her, their cries ringing in the air. Bullets whizzed past, some missing, others finding their marks. The sky was grey and dark, the ground wet with blood.

Her head whipped around, searching the battlefield for familiar faces. She'd seen Mr. Newkirk fall hours ago—or was it moments?—and the ship's bosun, Mr. Rigby, had also been shot down.

Where were the rest of the officers? Where was the airship? Where was Alek? The crew didn't belong on this battleground; they weren't even supposed to be in France. She needed to find someone to help her get back on the _Leviathan. _But there was no one. All she saw was a stretch of red as far as the horizon.

Deryn ran, crushing the red stems beneath her feet, slipping in gore, ignoring everything but the pounding in her head and the crimson color that now was painted on the inside of her eyelids.

Red like poppies.

Red like blood.

Red like the flames that had devoured her Da's balloon years ago.

A fierce pain suddenly ripped through her stomach. Deryn fell, writhing on the ground. The pain like fire, spread through her torso until her entire body was in agony. _No, no, no._ She didn't want it to end like this. She had promised Ma…

Deryn hadn't wanted this. Not the killing, or the fighting, or the dying. She'd wanted to fly, not fight in wars.

Now all she wanted to do was go home.

Slowly, the sounds of fighting faded. All Deryn could hear was the slow, shallow sound of her own breathing. She heard someone call, "Dylan!" in a voice she vaguely recognized, but couldn't remember where from.

She let her eyes slide closed and her heartbeat quickened suddenly. One last shuddering breath and—

"Dylan."

There it was again, but this time only a whisper. She felt a hand clasp her own. With the last of her energy, Deryn croaked out, "…Alek—"

` But it was too late. Deryn Sharp died with that angry red still imprinted on her lids.

** According to a WWI book I found in my treasure trove of a basement, the poppy fields of northern France were where some of the bloodiest battles in that war took place. Apparently, these fields are why the poppy symbolizes everyone who died in World War One.**

** Sad fic. I'll make it up to you with some fluff later. (I'll also kill off alek when I find some inspiration.) Review please!**


	6. In Color

**I don't own Leviathan.**

_A picture's worth a thousand words  
>But you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered<br>You should have seen it in color_

She was sixty-four when she finally found the courage to look at the photographs again. They'd sat in the attic for forty years in an old trunk, collecting dust along with her old pilot goggles, wedding dress, and a pair of his white gloves. As she ran a thumb over the sepia of her ma and da, Deryn almost shoved them back in that old leather trunk. Even after so many years, the effect the photos had on her was astonishing. These were pictures of her parents, photographs of her and Jaspert, old wedding pictures of her and Alek. She didn't want to relive all this—

"What are you looking at, Gramma?"

She started; then smiled at her granddaughter. Lilly Hohenburg was six and beautiful, with pretty green eyes and blonde hair much like Deryn's, before hers had started to grey. Drove her father wild with worry about what would happen when she started to grow up. Right now, she'd sworn off boys (they were "icky" and besides, "I can climb trees and run faster than any of the ninnies in my class anyway!") She took after Deryn in more ways than her blonde hair, a fact Franz exasperatedly reminded his mother whenever Lilly refused to have her hair brushed into pigtails, or got her church dress full of mud five minutes before they left for the mass.

"Just looking at a few pictures, darling," Deryn told her.

"Can I see?" Lilly pulled herself onto Deryn's lap with such and eager expression she couldn't tell her granddaughter no. She mustered a smile and began to show Lilly the photographs.

"Who's that?" the girl asked, pointing a finger at a portrait or Jaspert. He stood stiffly and straight-faced, dressed smartly in his Air Service uniform, but Deryn could detect the sparkle of mischief in his eyes, the tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. She swallowed thickly.

"That's your great-uncle—my brother. He was in the Air Service."

"Like you and Grandpa?" Lilly asked innocently. Meanwhile, Deryn felt like weeping, but it wasn't the girl's fault. Tears came a lot easier than they did when Alek was alive.

"Yes, like me, but not Grandpa. He was—"

"A prince," Lilly interrupted. "I know. Is this him?" She gestured at a fading black-and-white photograph—their wedding photo, Deryn realized. She nodded.

"That's him. And that's me too," she told her son's daughter.

Lilly scrutinized the photograph. "He looks like a prince," she decided. Deryn couldn't help but agree. Even without his title and kingdom, Alek looked like royalty.

"And you look like a princess," Lilly continued. Her grandmother laughed.

"No, I don't," she protested. She tilted her head to the side, as if that would help her see the princess in her twenty-two-year-old self. Her blonde hair was slightly longer than it was at fifteen, curling at her shoulders. She clutched a bouquet of flowers, and she and Alek were roughly the same height. (He'd never grown taller than her, Deryn remembered with a smile.) She supposed to a six-year-old, she did look a little like a princess.

"I just wish I could have been there," Lilly sighed, tracing the photograph with her thumb. "I bet it looks even better in color."

Deryn looked at the picture again and thought back to that day nearly fifty years ago. She remembered the smell of flowers in the spring air, the delight in her husband's green eyes, the screaming of her little cousins and their chanting: "Deryn's getting mar-ried! Mar-ried! She's in lo-ove!" Amelia had led that one, she recalled.

"Yeah," she agreed. "It was definitely better in color."

_And if it looks like we were scared to death  
>Like a couple of kids just trying to save each other<br>You should have seen it in color_

**Lyrics are from **_**In Color**_** by Jamey Johnson. Check it out! It's pretty good, if you like country music.**

**There you go, Suave Panda. I killed off Alek. Not in a violent way, as you were probably hoping (maybe later, eh?), but I think it's okay writing. Tell me what you think! (Oh, and tomorrow's my birthday and I expect a present—a few reviews would suffice!)**


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